Great America

Saturday, June 9, 2012. My friend Mindy had coupons for Great America so she invited me along with Jacky and Alex.

*All photos taken with my iPhone 4S since I definitely couldn’t just leave my camera behind in the cubbies while I rode on rides.

This is the first time (how many times have I said that already?) where I’ve went to an amusement park simply to hang out with a small group of friends. Previous times it’d be mainly key club events and such. Just the four of us, which make it very convenient with rides since a lot of them were either 2 or 4 people per row.

Jacky and Alex arrived around 11:20PM and Mindy at around noon.

1:19PM

Made a stop at Target for Mindy.

1:54PM

Arrived at the park!

2:04PM

Planning out the rides we want to go on.

Didn’t really see any prizes that I wanted.

2:44PM

Waiting in lines. Bees buzzing around.

Before entering into the amusement park, I wasn’t going to ride on any roller coasters since I figured out that it was the big drops that caused my massive headaches by the end of the day, but I made an exception with this one since the drop didn’t seem like it was from too high up. Of course as soon as I heard the “clicking” noises as the carts carried us up, the only thing that was running through my head was regretting ever getting on this ride. I think I’d so much more appreciate the ride if it’d just speed up like a race car at the start line. Basically so there isn’t any time for me to think it all through. Thankfully the drop wasn’t an immediate drop after reaching the very top. It dipped down a bit and gained a bit of speed before the final big drop, which thankfully lasted only two seconds. I still hate that drop feeling through, but it was manageable. Since there were about four loops on this coaster, Alex advised me to keep my head tucked into my chest for the loops. It surprisingly really helped keep my entire body in control and not feel like I was being shaken up and down.

I actually really enjoyed this roller coaster overall though. I was even sad when it was already over. Such a short ride.

3:01PM

My friends went for the drop zone.

Definitely did not get on this ride. I hate heights and I hate big drops—this ride was a combination of them.

I stayed on the sidelines recording the moment.

Still in the process of editing the video. All the video editing programs really lag my computer and it makes it so frustrating when my computer freezes every 10 seconds. It’s times like these I wish I had my desktop computer with me or maybe I need more memory space or maybe I just need a faster computer to keep up with all the things I do.

3:11PM

A ride that spun in circles along this roller coaster-like path.

Normally these rides would face inward, but the seats were turned outwards, which made it all worse. The spinning was fine, but going up the ramps on both ends made me very fearful since the backs of our seats weren’t keeping any pressure on backs meaning it felt like if I let go of the handles I would just fall off the ride. Thankfully every time it reached the end, I never got the top, only the sides.

4:27PM

Lunch at In-N-Out because we definitely weren’t paying those overpriced meals in the park.

5:40PM

Flight Deck and this other ride that constantly rotated.

Flight Deck was another roller coaster where I was at first not going to go on, but finally gave in. I definitely was not prepared for what came up for this ride. First of all, I didn’t really expect it to be so extremely fast. And not only that, I didn’t even take a look at the path of the roller coaster, meaning I had no idea how many or if there were any loops at all. The entire ride was just stunned by it’s acceleration and couldn’t even catch my breath.

6:54PM

Logger’s Run

The water raft ride sadly was closed so we had to settle for Logger’s Run as our water ride. I was surprised you actually had to bring your bags with you on the ride since it would get wet. Good thing I had a ziplock bag where I could put my phone and wallet in to protect it from any water damage. Nearing the drop at the end, I definitely was panicking since I couldn’t find anything to hold onto. But right before the last few turns, I found the silver bars that were tucked on the sides. I had the back seat so I didn’t really get soaked at all.

7:28PM

Relaxing on the swings.

7:59PM

The mistake.

This ride was definitely a mistake. We wanted the find the teacups, but those were at Six Flags so we thought this was basically the same thing. Nope. As the ride started accelerating and spinning around, I was pushed against Alex and was trying incredibly hard to pull forward so I wouldn’t squish him, but the force was just too much and we were pretty much screaming on the ride. Talk about the worst ride ever.

9:09PM

Jacky tried to win some stuffed poke balls, but no par.

9:45PM

Finished off the day at the amusement park with a delicious cinnamon apple funnel cake.

11:00PM

Pizza

Looking for a place for a late night dinner was tough since the options around my apartment were pretty much just mexican places since they open until 3AM. Kudos to Siri for finding a nearby pizza place, Little Caesar’s close to Great America and we started driving towards it only to realize we forgot to even check if it was open still. After reaching the place through, it turned out to still be open and we got our delicious late night meal. Brought it back to my apartment to consume.

Then my friends headed back home. I was extremely worn out from the entire day as I was too sleepy to even go on my computer to import photos and check social networking sites. Definitely had a nice long sleep.

I had a really great time riding on the rides with my friends, but I think I still prefer a more low-key simple and relaxing hang out like just chatting over some boba and card games or maybe even just sitting on a beach or breezy hillside with a picnic. I guess that really represents how I am an introvert. Because after days like these, I definitely need time to recuperate if I have to head out again.

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